Dec 8 Feel the VIBs

Start-up watch: Viberate looks like one to watch on the live-music scene. The Slovenia-based outfit has been leaning on fans to put together a huge database comprising tens of thousands of artists, events and music venues around the globe so that event organisers can use its platform to find and book music venues and artists.

Viberate – which featured on the European Commission’s Music Moves Europe initiative shortlist of eight start-ups set to disrupt the music market – has around 50,000 contributors providing its profile data and has developed a new currency, the Viberate token (VIB), to pay them for their work.

The company now plans to hand over 5,000 VIBs a day for 2,000 days when contributors perform such tasks as adding new profiles or writing editorial content. Event organisers using Viberate to book music venues and artists will be able to pay in VIBs, or cryptocurrency Ether. Payments will be supported by the Ethereum platform using blochchain-backed smart contracts to provide transparency and ensure each party is paid.

“Our vision is to revolutionise the way musicians are presented and booked as well as to open the world of live music to anyone who wants to participate in it by decentralizing discovery and booking processes with the use of the blockchain technology,” Viberate says.